Politicians have always stretched the truth, embellished facts with indecorous deceits, and otherwise pushed the boundaries of decency. There is, however,  a new, deeper level of lying in this generation of Republicans. It’s not just Romney, though he is a particularly annoying kind of liar. When Perry speaks of his Christian nation nonsense and suggests that such a stance is perfectly American; when Boehner can eliminate “the rich” from his vocabulary and replace it with “job creators” — as if the rich had no other concern than in using their spare cash to hire high school graduates; and when Gingrich can portray himself as a family man, an idea man, well, now we have a veritable deluge of lies the likes of which America usually sees only in forgettable fringe candidates.

Those who swallow these lies uncritically are vulgar entertainment junkies to whom the truth is too boring. The Republican Party seems to be courting the Fox News ignorami in the same way they courted the religious right and the Tea Party. Very soon, the party, which many now see as a distortion of the historical party, will devolve into an entertainment entity permanently assigned to the lunatic dustbin of politics. May that day be soon.